Friday, March 18, 2011

St. Patty's Day has come and gone, leaving us all with a lingering green-beer hangover and fuzzy memories of what seems to be some sort of Jayhawk-powered rocket ship.

So how should you spend this weekend? First and foremost, basketball. Louisville's stunning first-round loss yesterday only solidifies Larryville's belief that the Hawks are coasting right into the championship game. Get drunk and keep believing.

But make time for the UFO Conference at Liberty Hall as well. We'll likely be on hand this afternoon for the panel on "Mass UFO Sightings," which focuses especially on the 2006 O'Hare incident.

Chip: "Nanoo, nanoo!"

Richard: "Don't joke, Chip. This shit is real."

Go here for details:

www.ozufo.net

Or perhaps you prefer your extraterrestrials to be foul-mouthed, pot-smoking little creatures voiced by Seth Rogen. In that case, check out Greg Mottola's new film Paul, in which Nick Frost and Simon Pegg befriend the titular alien. The AV Club says:

"Pegg and Frost’s relationship is depicted with an almost homoerotic tenderness that doesn’t always extend to other aspects of the film."

Chip: "I was really hoping the homoerotic element would extend to the interspecies relationship of the film as well, because the concept of boning an alien (in my case, of course, an alien woman) is fascinating to me, and I plan to ask the experts about it down at Liberty Hall today."

Richard: "I wish Greg Mottola would have made Adventureland 2: Return to Adventureland instead of Paul."

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And here's your daily helping of SXSW coverage. Pitchfork reviews a set by Montreal's Braids:

"Braids were already running late when they finished their soundcheck with Raphaelle Standell-Preston announcing that they'd be leaving for a few minutes, "because that's what we always do." Annoying! Hey guys-- some of us are on a pretty tight schedule here! But then I saw why they had left: the four members of the Montreal band were standing to the left of the stage, engaged in a passionate group hug. Adorable!"

Richard: "Real hipsters don't hug. I'm distressed by this warm-and-fuzzy aesthetic infiltrating much of the scenester community lately. I like my indie bands apathetic and emotionless."